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Quote: Bigredfeather should be the one to answer this but I'll take a shot for now: You can figure out the minimum land requirements from the size of your tractor and assuming you need that much space every day. If your tractor is 10x10, that's 100 square feet; there are 43,560 square feet...

Yes, exactly! It was sooo much easier, not having to worry about getting the right temperature, piling, or any of that. It was also hilarious to see those hens with all these roly-poly chicks under, around, and on top of them. I'll be doing this again next year.

We had a couple of hens go broody at just the right time, so we put 18 CX chicks under them one evening. Seems to have worked out great - no heat lamp issues, no piling etc, they were out on grass from day one, and the hens seem to make them a little more active. Instead of just shuttling...

Quote: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/january/food/chicken-safety/overview/chicken-safety-ov.htm That's all I gotta say 'bout that. "Most contaminated were Tyson and Foster Farms chickens. More than 80 percent tested positive for one or both pathogens." Not...

Quote: Today's flyer, Foster Farms fresh [says so right here] whole chicken, $0.99/lb. If you think a pastured bird is equivalent to a FF bird, then don't bother raising them yourself. Since I know better, I will be quite happy getting a better bird for the same money, and I won't worry...

Quote: Not good at math, is he? 120/25 = just under 5 lbs/chick. If they can turn that into 6 to 8 lbs of meat they are truly a marvel! Conversion ratios I've seen quoted around here are more like 3:1 or even 4:1, i.e. you feed 18 to 24 lbs to get a 6 to 8-lb chicken. At the price we...

Quote: Thanks S_F, sounds like your spring is even worse than ours, so I won't be afraid to get some CX in winter. I'm not worried about harm to the pasture, just that there's nothing green in it for them after it goes dry, which is usually early June. Then we don't get rain until November...

Quote: How cold are you calling cold and how wet are you talking? Have you tried them in this weather (cold/wet)? Not cold by your standards - I'm on the northern California coast, so "cold" is in the 30s to low 40s at night, 40s to low 50s daytime. Lots of wind though, I'm looking right...

Excellent summary. Now I have to figure out how to adapt to my climate... when it's warm here the pasture is dry, and when the pasture is good it's cold, windy, and wet. Either I basically give up on pasturing, or figure out how to keep them warm in a tractor.